By Niara Savage

On Twitter, jokes about Twitter’s demise are common. After Elon Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of the social media site in late October, a slew of ordinary users and celebrities alike announced their departure. When Musk took over, he made the platform’s iconic blue checkmark available to anyone willing to pay a monthly fee as part of Twitter Blue. Chaos quickly ensued as Twitter Blue subscribers with newly minted checkmarks masqueraded as companies and famous people on the platform.

Eli Lilly, the maker of insulin, was perhaps the most costly casualty of the new policy. “We are excited to announce insulin is now free,” wrote a fake account posing as the company with a blue checkmark. The real company rushed to contact Twitter to have the post removed, but it remained visible for hours, according to The Washington Post. The fake tweets wiped out an estimated $15 billion from the company’s market capitalization.

After the debacle, Twitter suspended the subscription service, but the damage to Twitter’s credibility was already done. According to Media Matters for America, half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers are no longer advertising on the site.

Musk has fired over 3,000 employees during his tenure as CEO. Some employees were unaware they were being fired until they were locked out of their company laptops. Former Twitter employees are suing, claiming that the layoffs violated labor laws.

In addition, hate speech on Twitter increased dramatically after Musk took over the platform. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Musk’s use of the N-word is three times higher than the year’s average. Musk also welcomed Kanye West back to Twitter in November, following the temporary suspension of his account in October due to an anti-Semitic tweet. Musk, on the other hand, kicked the rapper, now known as Ye, off the platform again earlier this month for inciting violence after he posted an image of a swastika.

While a sizable portion of Twitter content consists of silly memes and cat pictures, Twitter also serves as a digital town square—a free, accessible meeting place that connects hundreds of millions of users around the world and allows each to express their thoughts, reflections, and concerns. What would the demise of Twitter mean for the way global citizens engage in public discourse?

Sheletta Brundidge, a comedian, podcaster, and author based in Minnesota, uses Twitter to discuss news and events that she believes the mainstream media frequently overlooks. According to her, the platform levels the playing field.
“You can get your message out on Twitter,” said Brundidge, who goes by the Twitter handle @ShelettaIsFunny. “You can go on Twitter and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this, I’m doing that, this is happening in my community, that is happening in my community, and I want everyone to know about it.'”

Brundidge uses the platform to engage in community activism and to inspire other families who have autistic children. Brundidge shared a video of her son Daniel, who has autism and cannot speak, humming along to Lil Nas X’s hit “Old Town Road” in 2019. The tweet received over 35,000 likes. “We’re all making fun of Elon Musk,” Brundidge joked. “Well, if he blows up Twitter, he blows up the new system of equality that we created for getting the news out and telling our stories in our own authentic voices, in our own authentic way.”

Twitter’s demise would also mean the end of Black Twitter, which Brudidge defines as “an organised matrix of African American creatives and thought leaders who follow one another.” According to Brundige, mainstream companies try to use the network to promote their products and services. However, “Black Twitter is similar to the underground railroad. You know it’s there, but you can’t seem to locate it. You have no idea who the leader is.” Brundidge believes that the demise of Twitter will not destroy the virtual network of Black activists and leaders, but rather force them to adapt.

“I don’t think it’s a disaster. It strikes me as a catalyst for change. A new location, possibly created by a member of Black Twitter. “I’m ecstatic.”